Get Lost in Lost Coast Brewing’s Fogcutter Double IPA

Eureka, California-based Lost Coast Brewery doesn’t have to go far to get the best hops in the Pacific Northwest. The NorCal brewery makes the most of them in Fogcutter. This big, bitter double IPA is dry-hopped with five different hops and clocks in at 8.7% ABV. Downing a few is more likely to put you in a fog than cut through one.

Appearance

Lost Coast often features cartoonish and colorful labels, and this beer is no different with the image of a skeleton riding a motorcycle through a snowstorm. Fogcutter pours with a tightly bubbled, thick, white head. It’s hazy as if it is unfiltered and boasts a beautifully orange hue, though not as in the orange-juice-adjacent New England-style.

Highly drinkable and dangerous positioned at 8.7% ABV, it’s mouthfeel and big aroma keep bringing you back for more.”

Aroma

If you are going to drop five hop varieties in a dry-hopping schedule, the beer better have some aroma. Fogcutter makes good on that promise with a strong, old-school IPA scent. Dense sappy pine, bitter rind citrus and sweet malt notes flood the room. Leaning in closely reveals orange, grapefruit, and light pineapple to go along with a heavy dose of dank resin.

Flavor

Fogcutter delivers a bitter hop punch with each sip, earning its 80 IBUs. This is still a beer in balance, with a hefty malt backbone that brings sweet caramel to offset the hops. The depth of fruity notes in the aroma is mostly gone when it comes to flavor, which makes some sense given it existed due to the aggressive dry-hopping. In its place are pine sap and floral citrus. Fogcutter is easy-drinking, despite the bitterness, with a medium body and slickness that belies the higher ABV.

Overall

Fogcutter is an old-school double IPA, with malty sweetness, bitter citrus, and pine. Highly drinkable and dangerously positioned at 8.7% ABV, this beer's mouthfeel and big aroma keep bringing you back for more. With Fogcutter, Lost Coast offers a reminder that the IPA ways of old still work.